Hong Kong stocks close 0.31% higher

Hong Kong stocks rose 0.31 percent Tuesday in the first day's trading after a long holiday weekend, although gains were capped by below-forecast manufacturing data from China and the United States.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 68.19 points to end at 22,367.82 on turnover of HK$60.16 billion ($7.76 billion).

In the United States the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index fell to 51.3 in March from 54.2 in February. While anything above 50 points to expansion, the figure reflected slower growth in most of the sectors surveyed.

That news came hours after China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) hit 50.9 in March, the highest since April 2012 but below expectations of 51.0.

Investors are trading cautiously as they await the release of key statistics -- including gross domestic product for the first quarter -- later this month to gauge the health of the domestic economy, dealers said.

"The PMI data showed a weaker-than-expected recovery in the domestic economy, so investors might take a wait-and-see approach before other indicators come out," Haitong Securities analyst Zhang Qi told AFP.

Medical shares fell after reports cited an expert saying it will take some time for drug makers to produce a vaccine for latest strain of bird flu, which the government said at the weekend killed two men in Shanghai.